Filter-cell-washing machine



March 19, 1929. J PREBLE FILTER CELL WASHING MACHINE Filed Au as x Patented Mar. v 19 1929.

- UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES JARVIS PREBLE, OF NEWTON, MASSACHUSETT MINIS'IRATOR OF SAID JAMES J. PREBLE, DECEASED, ASSIGNOR TO SPRACO, INCL,

OF SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MASSACHUSETTS.

C FILTER-CELL-WASHIN G MACHINE.

s Application filed August 10,1927. Serial No. 211,978.

v The present invention relates to washing machines, and more particularly to a washing machine for removing the dust and dirt I retained on the filtering media of an air filter cell.

Air filters are now in wide general use for eliminating the small, solid particles, called dust, floating in a gas, such as atmospheric air or a gas produced in a manufacturing process. While innumerable materials and forms thereof have been proposed heretofore for the elimination of the injurious dust, a standard cell for holding the filtering media has been developed. This standardized cell comprises a metallic box having expanded metal covers for the inlet and outlet openings thereof between which metallic filtering media is placed and a pair of handles to facili- 7 tate the insertion of the cell into and its removal from the bank of cells'making up the filter installation. This bank of cells comprises a plurality of the cells arranged in,

tiers. To maintain the filterinstallation in efficient operation it is necessary to remove for cleaning a few of the dirty cells at a timer and to replace them with clean cells. Usuallythe dirty cells are removed for cleaning in accordance with a definite schedule. That is, in a filter installation containing, for in stance, thirty cells made up five tiers of six cells each, five dirty cells are removed for cleaning every five days. The operator engages the handles of one of the removed dirty cells and dips it repeatedly in a bath of lfot water and caustic soda. As each cell weighs thirty pounds the labor of cleaning the cells is considerable. Experience demonstrates that owing to this labor the duty of cleaning the cells isoften neglected. It has been pro posed to wash the dirty cells power-driven machines. Bearing in mind that only a fevw cells are,.cleaned at a time with intervals of days between cleaning operations, it is aparent that a power-driven machine would e used toojinfrequentlyto warrant the expense of its installation. 'It is a fact, however, that it is highly desirable to provide some apparatus to relieve the workmen of the 1 heavy duty of cleaning the dirty cells thus to insure their proper cleaning in strict ance ,with the cleaning schedule. 7 The object of the present invention .is to provide a washing machine for cleaning dirty accord-.3

December 26, 1925, is provided with a recfilter cells which will be simple in construction and mode of operation and thus cheap to manufacture, and by which the workman may clean the dirt cell with ease and celcrity.

To the accomplishment of these objects and such others as may hereinafter appear, the features of the present invention'i'elate to certain devices, combinations and arrangements of parts, hereinafter described, and thenset forth broadly and in detail in the appended claims.

The vario us features of the present invention will be readily understood from an inspectlon of the accompanying drawings il lustrating the best form of the invention at present known to the inventor, in which,

Figure 1 is a plan of the filter cell washmg machine;

F1g. 2 is an elevation, partly in section, showing the'filter cell support both in its operatlve and inoperative positions Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the Venturi tube comprising the steam inlet pipe;

Flg. 4 is a sectional elevation on the line 44, Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a plan of one of the devices for latchlng the support for the filter cell in its elevated position;

. Fig. 6 is an elevation of the latch, and

Fig. 7 is a bottom plan of the latch.

In the embodiment of the invention illustrated-the filter cell washing machine comprises a tank 8 having an open top and mounted' on four legs 9. The tank 8 is provided with'a sloping false bottom upon which a box 10, open at its top and bottom, is supported. To this end the box 10 is secured to a distance piece 11 which engages both the false bottom of the tank and the side thereof adjacent to the lower side of the false bottom so as to hold the box 10 in a fixed position on the sloping false bottom of the tank.

The box 10 and the distance piece 11 are re- The top operation, is engaged by the flange 13 (Fi 2) of a'support 14 (Fig. 1) for the filter cell 15. This filter cell as-disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 77,679, filed tangular flange 16, having two handles 17 and 18, and with a rectangular box 19 de S; LIVINGSTON STEBBINS,- AD- pending from the flange 16. The flange 16 carries the inlet to the filter cell while the box 19 carries the outlet therefrom. Both the inlet and the outlet are covered by expanded metal. llnterposed between-the 1nlet and outlet is the metallic filtering media varying from coarse to fine in the direction of" air flow. I

In order to clean the dirty filter cell the tank 8 is provided with an inlet 20 through whichhot water is admitted to the tank until the box 10 is filled and the filter cell 15 is covered. Thishot water is heated to bring it into a boiling condition. To this end the tank 8 is provided with a steam inlet (not shown) which registers with a threaded opening 21 (Figs. 3 and 4,) in a circular plate 22 secured to the interior of the tank by four screws the threaded openings for which are shown at23. The plate 22 is provided with four arms 24 forming a spider open to the water in the tank. Integral with the spider is a, tube 25 which enters the box 10 through a slot 26 formed therein. The tube 25 is provided with an extension pipe 27 terminating centrally of the box 10.

The tube 25 is provided with a constriction 28 (Fig. 4) of the Venturi type so that when steam is admitted to the tube water is drawn by the steam from the tank into the tube between the arms 24 of the spider and is discharged from the end of the pipe 27. During its passage through the tube the hot water is heated and is discharged into the box in a boiling condition. This boiling water surges upwardly through the suspended filter cell and purges the dirt and dust therefrom. The boiling water enters the filter cell on the fine filter media side and leaves the filter cell on the coarse filter media side. The filter media thus opposes no opposition to the purging ac; tion 0 the boiling water.

The steam admitted 'to the tank 8 con- (lenses and to maintain the original water level in the tank and to remove the scum formed by the dust and dirt purged from the filter cell the tank'8 just above the normal water level carries a trough 29 open to an outlet 30 on the tank 8. l

Heavier particles of dirt which sink tothe bottom of the tank accumulate thereon and are removed periodically through a drain 31. To prevent these heavier particles, which accumulate on the bottom of the tank, from being blown by the water discharged through the pipe 27 back into the filter cell, the box 10 is rovided with a copper screen partition 32.

.1 order to withdraw the cleaned filter cell from the box 10 the support 14 is provided on opposite sides with arms 33- and 34 which areconnected, res ectively, to lateral projections 35 and 36 0 vertical straps 37 and 38.

" The straps 37 and 38 are guided by slots 39 (Fig. 1) formed in the top of the tank and byv clips 40 2) secured to the exterior of braced by a slot 42 formed in an arm 43 pivoted on a cross-bar 44 secured'to the legs 9. The two arms 43 are connected by a treadle 45. Depression of the treadle by the operative elevates the filter cell from the construction line position of Fig. 2 to the full line. position thereof.

To hold the support 14 elevated, the top of the tank carries two latches 46 one of which enters a notch 47 on the strap 37 and the other one of which enters a similar notch on the strap 38. The latch 46 is formedon one end of a rod 48 slidably mounted in the opposite sides of a plate 49 secured to the top of the tank 8. The rod 48 is provided with an operating handle and knob 50. The latch 46 is projected forwardly to engage the notch 47gbya spring 51 coiled about the rod 48 and interposed between one of the sides of the plate 49 and'cthe latch 46. To lock the latch 46 in its withdrawn position the plate 49 is provided with a cam slot 52 which embraces a pin 53 on the latch 46.

the tank 8 until the flange 13 engages the flange 12 on the box 10. Hot water is admitted to the tank 8 through the inlet 20 until the filter cell is covered. Steamis then admitted to the Venturi tube which draws water from the tank 8, heats the drawn water and discharges it in a boiling condition into the box 10 where it surges upwardly through the screen 32 and the filter cell 15, and purges the cell from the dust and dirt on the filter media thereof. This dust and dirt is light and forms a scum on the surface of the water.

As thesteam condenses and thus increases the normal water contents of the tank 8 this scum flows intothetrough 29 and out of the tank through the-outlet 30. Heavy particles of dirt $111k to the bottom of the tank 8 from which they are removed through the drain 31. After the cell is cleaned the treadle 45 is depressed'to return the support 14 to its'normal elevated position. The latches 46 are now shot into the notches 47 to hold the support 14 in its elevated position. The cleaned filter cell is now removed, a dirty filter cell is placed in'position oh the support, and the support is again lowered to position the filter cell in the boiling water .in thebox 1o. With this'construction and mode of operating the operative is relieved of the duty of 'dipping meacsc repeatedly in. an energetic manner the heavy ifilter cell in a tank containing the cleaning uid.

While the. invention has been illustrated and described in connection with the filter cell invented by me and in connection with the use of hot water as the cleaning fluid it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the features of the invention may be advantageously employed in cleansing other t pes of filter cells and with the use of any c caning fluid. 4

It will also be clear to those skilled in the art and with thegeneral objects of the present invention in view that changes may be made in the details of structure, the described and illustrated embodiment thereof being intended as an exploitation of its underlying essentials the features whereof are definitely stated in their true scope in the claims hereto appended.

What is claimed as new, is:

1. A filter cell washing machine having, in combination, a tank for a liquid, a box mounted within the tank and constructed to support a filter cell with the filter media thereof within the box, and a steam pipe connected to the tank and extending into the box and having an injector opening to the liquid in the tank whereby the passage of steam in the pipe draws liquid from the tank and discharges it into the box in a boiling condition 2. A filter cell washing machine having, in combination, a tank for a liquid, a box'open at its top and bottom supported upon the bottom of the tank, said open top being adapted to receive a filter cell, a steam tube of the Venturi type connected to the tank and extending into the box and open to the liquid in the tank, whereby the steam in the tube draws liquid from the tank and discharges it into the box in a boiling condition, and an overflow connected to the tank above the top of the box.

3. A filter cell washing machine having, in a "combination, a tank for a liquid, a box, having an open top, supported by the bottom of the tank, and means for covering the top of the box with a filter cell comprising a support for the filter cell constructed to rest on the top of the box, a treadle for raising and lowering the support,and connections between the treadle and the support.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

JAMES JARVIS PREBLE. 

